壟斷

See also: 垄断

Chinese

monopolize
to break; to judge; absolutely
to break; to judge; absolutely; decidedly
 
trad. (壟斷) 壟 斷
simp. (垄断) 垄 断
alternative forms 龍斷／龙断
隴斷／陇断
垅断

Etymology

From the book Mencius:

人亦孰不欲富貴？而獨於富貴之中，有私龍斷焉。……有賤丈夫焉，必求龍斷而登之，以左右望而罔市利。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
人亦孰不欲富贵？而独于富贵之中，有私龙断焉。……有贱丈夫焉，必求龙断而登之，以左右望而罔市利。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCE
Rén yì shú bù yù fùguì? Ér dú yú fùguì zhī zhōng, yǒu sī lǒngduàn yān....... Yǒu jiànzhàngfū yān, bì qiú lǒngduàn ér dēng zhī, yǐ zuǒyòu wàng ér wǎng shìlì. [Pinyin]
Who indeed is there of men but wishes for riches and honour? But he only, among the seekers of these, tried to monopolize the conspicuous mound. […] It happened that there was a mean fellow, who made it a point to look out for a conspicuous mound, and get up upon it. Thence he looked right and left, to catch in his net the whole gain of the market.

Pronunciation

Verb

壟斷

  1. (archaic) to trade in a market located on higher ground
  2. (figuratively) to monopolize; to corner (the market)

Derived terms

Noun

壟斷

  1. (archaic) higher ground
  2. (figuratively) monopoly; monopolization

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (壟斷):
  • → Japanese: 壟断(ろうだん) (rōdan)

References

“壟斷”, in 重編國語辭典修訂本 [Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), National Academy for Educational Research (Taiwan), 2021.

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